Lot 476: Attributed to Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans

Attributed to Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French, 1801-1888, act. New Orleans, 1836-1856), "Portrait of Marie Constance Conway (1822-1854)", c. 1840, oil on canvas, unsigned, 38 in. x 30 in., period gilt frame Provenance: The sitter, Marie Constance Conway (1822-1854) and Robert Conway (b. 1813); their daughter, Marie Constance Conway (b. c. 1850) and Alexander Kirkwood Finlay (1843-1911); their daughter, Laura Gaines Finlay (1886-1982) and James Pierce Butler (1880-1941); their daughter, Ormonde Butler (c. 1905-1987) and Philip Joseph Bayon (1905-1989); thence by descent. Note: Constance Conway, the great-great-great-niece of Maurice Conway, Jr., who came to New Orleans from Ireland with his uncle, Alejandro O’Reilly (second Governor of Louisiana under Spanish rule), grew up on Conway Plantation in St. James Parish. Her father, James Conway, and her mother, Mathilde Peytarin Conway, had at least two other daughters, Clementine and Louisa, whose portrait by Jacques Amans is illustrated in the Colonial Dames’ Louisiana Portraits book. Also noted in this volume is the likeness of Mathilde’s mother, Madame Dubosse Peytarin née Mathilde Boisdoré, painted in 1845 by Amans. In 1847, Constance Conway married Robert Conway, who had emigrated from Alexandria, Virginia to New Orleans in about 1832. Robert’s brother, John Richard Conway, also came to New Orleans and held the office of Mayor from 1868-1870, following his marriage to Eliza Waggaman in 1857. A third Conway brother, Thomas, married Constance’s sister, Clementine, in 1854. The joining of the two Conway families appears to be an intriguing coincidence, as the two lines were not related; while the St. James Parish Conways had Irish ancestors, the Virginia Conways descended from English relations. As Jacques Amans rose to distinction as the premier portraitist in the New Orleans area in the 1840s, prominent families were eager to commission him to paint likenesses. Although many Amans’ portraits were created with a monochromatic background, the artist occasionally utilized an outdoor scene behind the sitter, as is the case with Constance Conway’s portrait. Other examples of this background presentation may be seen in “Portrait of Jeanne Roman Holding a Dove” from the early 1840s and also “Portrait of Clara Mazureau” from 1838. Indeed, the partition wall behind each sitter in the Mazureau portrait and present Conway portrait are nearly identical. Equally important, the brushwork in each of these portraits is among the finest in Amans’ oeuvre. The delicate handling of facial features and hair, combined with the sophisticated depiction of the 1840s-era fashions could not be more elegantly brought to life than in these portraits of young women in their finery. Ref.: Bruns, Thomas Nelson Carter, Mrs., comp. Louisiana Portraits. New Orleans: The National Society of the Colonial Dames of American in the State of Louisiana, Historical Activities Committee, 1975.